This course is intended to introduce aspects of Russia today to a general student audience, with special emphasis on contemporary Russia as a “multi-national” country. Throughout the course various features of modern Russia will be examined through such diverse materials as the literature, cinema, and political history of recent years.

Among the many issues which this course intends to raise are: the complexities and contradictions of Russia as a multi-ethnic country (or, as most Russian-speakers would put it, a country of many different “nationalities”); the attempt to recover the past in Russian culture today; the ways we look at the Russians through our own media; the economic and political transformations of Russia, as reflected in culture and everyday life. Particular attention will be paid to the Chechen conflict, its meaning for Russia, and its representation in Russian culture, and to other “hot spots” of ethnic and national content that have emerged in recent years.

There are two informal lectures per week, and a discussion section. Written assignments for the course are: two short papers and a weekly journal. There also will be three in-class examinations of one hour each.

Syllabi are available to current LSA students. IMPORTANT: These syllabi are provided to give students a general idea about the courses, as offered by LSA departments and programs in prior academic terms. The syllabi do not necessarily reflect the assignments, sequence of course materials, and/or course expectations that the faculty and departments/programs have for these same courses in the current and/or future terms.